


Still Here For You A Thousand Miles Away

by aroseandapen



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Multi, Papyrus is dating both but Mettaton and Grillby are closer to friends and are not dating, Poly Papyrus, Polyamory, They are aware and accept this though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 03:50:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12027504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroseandapen/pseuds/aroseandapen
Summary: Papyrus has two boyfriends that he loves with his entire being, and knows that they each love him just as much. It’s unfortunate that Mettaton often travels because of work, but Papyrus and Grillby are still there to support him no matter how far away he may go.





	Still Here For You A Thousand Miles Away

Papyrus rested his skull on Grillby’s chest, listening to the low hum rumbling within. Fiery fingers trailed up and down his spine, leaving a warm trail in their wake that crackled over his vertebrae. It felt like laying down in a gentle fire, where the flames were pleasant and all encompassing, but never painful. A contented sigh fanned out the flames of his boyfriend’s chest as Papyrus shifted, turning his face to bury it in the welcome heat.

The TV was on. Papyrus paid it no mind, too wrapped up in maximizing their quality cuddle session, and let its droning fade into the background. He didn’t even know what was playing, so wrapped up in Grillby’s company he was. He couldn’t get enough of it.

Sure, they lived together, but life was busy. Papyrus got up to greet the sun and go out on his daily jogging, which turned into his daily socialize-with-every-other-early-bird-in-the-city, and then his daily sprint away from the stray dogs that were enticed by his bones. They always caught him, unfortunately, and so the next couple of hours would turn into his daily search for the owners of said dogs and, failing that, bringing them to the local pound. By the time he meandered home at last, dirty and exhausted, Grillby had already woken up and left for work.

At least they often ate lunch together, right before Papyrus left for his own job. Nothing fancy, and nowhere near what his dreams had been, but working afternoons and evenings in a grocery store and providing the best customer service that he could to everyone who came through those automatic sliding doors was a good position in the meantime.

By night, both Grillby and Papyrus were done for the day and they’d return home to wind down together and fall asleep spooning. Even better, frequently when Mettaton was in town he would be there for when they came home. Papyrus would squeak in delight and fall into his other boyfriend’s embrace to receive a windfall of kisses to his skull and teeth.

Those nights, he’d fall asleep with two pairs of arms wrapped around him. His dreams were always sweetest when he had the both of them there.

His comfy boyfriend-pillow shifted, nudging Papyrus to get his attention. He tilted his head back, blinking the drowsiness from his eye sockets to meet Grillby’s gaze with a questioning look.

Grillby turned his face away, gesturing toward the TV with a nod. Excitement sparked up in Papyrus’ soul, and he turned in Grillby’s arms to glance over at the screen.

“Hello, darlings, it’s great to be here!” There was Mettaton’s smiling face, winking at a screaming studio audience that he couldn’t see. He looked toward the human sat behind a desk—the host of this show, Papyrus assumed, although this was the first time he’d ever seen it. “Thank you so much for having me on tonight, Chase.”

‘Chase’ said something in response, but Papyrus didn’t hear. He bolted upright, tearing out of Grillby’s arms to get a better look at the TV. Papyrus dragged his legs in to hug his knees to his chest, a smile so large on his face that his cheekbones hurt. Finally! This was the program they’d been waiting for a whole hour to catch.

Not that the wait was excruciating, when he had a hot body to occupy himself with. Literally.

“LOOK, LOOK, GRILLBY LOOK!” Papyrus squealed out, slapping Grillby’s thigh and jabbing his finger toward the TV. “HE’S DOING IT, HE’S WEARING MY CLIP.”

Mettaton turned his face to look at the host, and Papyrus’ gaze zoomed in on the accessory neatly clipped into his hair. It didn’t have the same pinning qualities on his crafted metal hair as it did on non-robot hair and fur, but it still added something to his look, a vibrant pink flower that matched the pink of Mettaton’s body exactly. Papyrus’ soul brimmed with pride at his excellent eye for color. He was so happy that his boyfriend wore it.

It was almost like he was right there with him, supporting him, not hundreds of miles away watching him on a small television screen.

The bed shifted as Grillby sat up beside him, and warm arms looped about him. Papyrus allowed himself to be drawn back, resting his back against the heat of Grillby’s torso. Lips found their way to his temple, and a giddy giggle bubbled up in his chest.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE HE ACTUALLY WORE IT,” he said, feeling warmth in his cheekbones that had nothing to do with the fire monster. The clip was nothing special, not in craftsmanship at least. Papyrus had lovingly cut out and glued together felt for the ‘petals’ of the flower, and then fixed that with an everyday clip he’d bought at a drug store. He’d thought that it’d look pretty in Mettaton’s hair, when he’d given it to him.

Mettaton had thanked him, of course, promising to wear it in the near future. Never in a million years would he have expected him to proudly wear Papyrus’ tiny gift on television, with the entire world watching.

“Mm-hmm.” Grillby’s acknowledgment hummed against the side of his skull, accompanied by peppered kisses that made Papyrus melt into his arms. He was a man of few words—very few—but Papyrus could feel the proud smile on his boyfriend’s face all the same. Together they settled in to watch the show, with Papyrus making frequent commentary about how amazing and talented Mettaton was, how he earned his place on national television.

Papyrus couldn’t be more proud.

———————————————————————————————————

Mettaton collapsed onto the cushy armchair with a grateful sigh. His joints felt stiff, his battery was drained, but ultimately it was a pleasant sensation. It was a long day, and he was exhausted, but it had been a wonderful experience to appear on a big human talk show, and later to interact with the fans that had come to see him there and those that became fans that day from the studio audience.

He pulled the plush robe so that it was wrapped snug around his body. A big day ending with the amenities that the hotel provided.

Allowing himself just a few minutes to just sit in the quiet of his room, he soon pulled out his phone and pulled up the video chat app on his phone. There were very few contacts on it, unlike with his public social media accounts, but that was just how he liked it. He only needed those few.

He selected “SkeleBabe;)” and hit ‘call’.

After just two rings, there was a click, and Papyrus’ grinning face filled Mettaton’s phone screen. A mirroring smile wormed its way onto his face without him realizing, seeing the unbridled joy of those large sockets, the infectious cheer in that grin. Orange dusted over his cheekbones, faint but just able to be seen on the camera.

“METTATON! HELLO!!!”

His soul was going to burst—he wished that he could kiss those smiling teeth.

“Hello, my love. I wanted to call you before bed, how are you doing?” he asked, reclining back in the chair as he settled into the cushions.

“I’M DOING GREAT, SNOOKIE-BEAR!!!” Papyrus used the endearment so earnestly that Mettaton had to resist the urge to laugh at it. A few years ago he would’ve thought such terms were cringy, but to hear it come with such genuinely loving intent from his boyfriend, he could only find it adorable. “WE SAW YOU ON TV!!!”

Aw, how sweet. Mettaton had told Papyrus about his pending appearance, but he would’ve understood if he hadn’t watched. It wasn’t Papyrus’ thing. It meant a lot to him that Papyrus ended up watching it.

“You watched it with Grillby, then?”

“YES!” Papyrus nodded with such a vigorous shake that Mettaton could hear the faint rattle of his bones. “HE’S HERE RIGHT NOW, ACTUALLY, LOOK!”

The camera jerked away from Papyrus’ face, and the fire elemental’s smile panned into view.

“SAY HI, GRILLBY!” came Papyrus’ voice, now from off-camera.

Grillby’s smile grew, and he waved. Mettaton grinned.

“Hello, Grillby. Thank you for watching me on TV. I really appreciate it.”

There was just enough time for Grillby to nod in acknowledgment before the camera shook and jumped away again. Papyrus’ face reappeared.

“HE ACTUALLY ASKED TO WATCH IT WITH ME!” Papyrus exclaimed with a dazzling bright look. “HE WAS SO HAPPY FOR YOU WHEN I TOLD HIM ABOUT IT!!”

A quiet mm-hmm sounded from off to the side—Grillby must’ve been hovering close, for Mettaton to hear that. It warmed his core. The two of them were friends, of course, spending time together with their mutual boyfriend and occasionally hanging out alone, but mostly spent time with other people when not with Papyrus. It touched Mettaton that Grillby was fond enough of him to want to watch some human show that he knew nothing about just to support him.

“Ah, is that so? I appreciate it a lot. Thank you both for watching me. I’m sure after this I might start being even busier with jobs and appearances.” It was bittersweet. Of course Mettaton was thrilled that his career was flourishing on the surface. However it meant that he saw his sweet sugar-bones less and less.

He was glad that Papyrus at least had Grillby in those times. Mettaton missed him keenly, though.

“OF COURSE! WE ARE ALWAYS HERE FOR YOU, DARLING! EVEN IF WE’RE HERE FOR YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY! ISN’T THAT RIGHT, HOT BUNS?”

“Of course.” Grillby’s voice took an amused lilt, and Mettaton hid a small snicker behind his hand. He wondered if Papyrus was aware of what he just said.

He decided to find out. “Well, I suppose that Grillby’s buns are pretty hot—literally—but I think we can all agree that I have the hottest sculpted buns out of all of us.”

Papyrus’ expression changed in an instant. His cheekbones lit up a bright orange, glowing hotly as he seemed to choke on air for a good moment. To his credit, he regained control of himself quickly, his grin easy despite the glow that remained on his face.

“WELL! I THINK THAT BOTH OF YOUR BUNS ARE OF EXCELLENT HEAT AND SHAPE!” he said, and Mettaton could hardly recognize him from his shy, stammering demeanor when their relationships first grew sexual. “THEY’RE BOTH GREAT FOR SQUEEZING.”

Grillby choked out a string of nonsense noises. Papyrus looked at him, and Mettaton sorely wished that he could see the look on the bartender’s face. He never got used to such blatant talk, and even if Mettaton wasn’t dating him, he still found it cute. The camera jolted as Papyrus shifted, leaning his skull against a burning chest. The flames jumped and crackled, wild with Grillby’s flustering.

“WHAT? I MEAN IT. YOU’VE GOT A VERY NICE BUTT, HONEY.” Thick arms wrapped around Papyrus’ skull, obscuring his face from view. Mettaton could hear the skeleton’s muffled laughter. “NO, DON’T BE EMBARRASSED! YOU SHOULD BE PROUD!!”

Mettaton tittered. “Well, I think I’m going to leave you two to yourselves and give you some privacy. Things seem to be getting hot over here. I have a mug of tea here with my name on it, and I need to get some beauty rest.”

Still giggling, Papyrus wiggled to peek his face out from behind Grillby’s arms. “GOOD NIGHT, MY LOVE! HAVE A GOOD TEA TIME AND REST!”

“Good night, Papy sweetie, I love you. Have fun.”

“I LOVE YOU TOO!”

His phone made a clicking sound and the video vanished as the call disconnected, leaving Mettaton feeling warm and smiling. He loved Papyrus more than anything, even when they were so far away. He got up, going to make that very mug of tea that he’d talked about and have some nice solitary relaxation time.

Mettaton was still smiling when he plugged in his charger and shut off for the night.


End file.
